Sharing and sacrifice

Audrey, your brother loves you.  He loves you so much, that he was willing to not only share his apple with you, but give it up completely to see you happy.  

Remember that, little one.  You'll be thankful to have him as your big brother when you're all grown up.  

Mine

It's all hers now. 

Sweet Rachel

I've mentioned before that Audrey has had a difficult time in the nursery at church.  She's never really been great at separating in general, but in the nursery she has a whole hour in one location to cry and dwell on the fact that we're not with her.

Occasionally with a few of the nursery leads, she does great.  But then there's Rachel.  Sweet, gentle, kind, patient, Rachel.  Audrey has given her a run for her money this year.  And the thing about it is that Rachel completely desires to make Audrey happy.  She has said that it's her goal to make Audrey like her.  She genuinely desires to make sure that she and Audrey get along.  She's so sweet!

When we see Rachel at church (even when she's not serving in the Children's Ministry), she makes her way over to our family and smiles at Audrey.  She says things like, 'I'd love to be you're friend', or 'We're going to be friends one day.'  She goes out of her way to make Audrey familiar with her outside of the nursery. And just in case you're wondering, she does this in the most gentle and non-intrusive way.  She's patient and watches Audrey's cues to decided whether to walk away or inch closer to reach out an rub her back or give her a pat.

So last week we decided to have Rachel and her husband James over to our house for dinner.  We wanted to thank them for their service in the nursery and get to know them a bit better.  I was also thinking that it would be a good place for Audrey to hang out with Rachel.  Well, it worked! Rachel held Audrey, and Audrey not only didn't cry, but she smiled!  It was wonderful to see!

So now Rachel and Audrey are buddies.... just in time for Audrey to move up into the Toddler 1 Room this weekend.  Bummer!  But we are thankful to have some new friends and I am thrilled that Rachel and James are part of our church family.

Can't you just hear her sweet southern voice?  What's not to love?

Jack's 'camera smile'

I've noticed that Jack has a special smile for the camera. Even when I'm trying to snap a candid shot of him playing, he peaks at the camera and gives this smile:

One year pictures and stats

I completely forgot to post Audrey's final monthly picture!  It was hard to capture a picture this time around.  We tried on two different days and Jack helped out a lot.  He even tried with my phone while I was using the real camera.

Here are her stats:

length: 72.2cm (2' 4")
weight: 18lb 5oz
head circumference:  46cm

Everything above basically just means that she's really tiny!

Nana also treated us again to pictures by the wonderful Leah Robbins.  Here's a link to some of her favorites.  I love that she captured all of Audrey's faces!

Help from Jack

Trying to Escape

Happy 12 months, Audrey!

Norris Lake 2013

Jacob's aunt has a wonderful house on Lake Norris in Tennessee and we were able to spend a long weekend there relaxing as a family.  The lake has magical powers.  It forces you to rest.  Living on Lake Time is amazing and even the kids feel it.  They were flexible with naps and were pretty laid back (I mean, as laid back as kids get).

We drove down late on Thursday afternoon and spent two fun days on the boat.  From the first moments, Audrey hated it.  She cried and cried.  And who can blame her?  This doesn't look to comfortable:

We immediately found a new life jacket at a marina and life was much better:

She found a place to put up her feet.  And I promise, she was only out of her jacket for a moment.

Cheers with Aunt Christy

We weren't going to let the threat of rain keep us out of the water this weekend.  We got caught once while we were swimming, but on day two we were thankfully already dry in a marina when the rain starting pouring down. Jack had a great time.

And we kept Audrey entertained by singing "Little Fish".  Here she is entertaining us, saying "Oh no!"

Jack was entertained by taking pictures while we waited out the storm.  I think he took over 200 pictures.  Here's a good one:

This is what happens when you have to wait out a rain storm during nap time.  The kids both fell asleep on our way back to the house.

We're going back next month with three other families, and there will be 9 kids and 8 adults.  Let's hope Lake Time works its magical powers on that trip, too!

Audrey is one!

Audrey is one now!  It's amazing to me that just a year ago we were bringing this little one home from the hospital:

What a difference a year makes!

I think that Audrey is starting to turn a corner.  We've had a lot fewer days like these recently:

And many more of these:

She found a cookie at Kroger....

Maybe it's because she can finally get around on her own:

If you spend any time with her, you'll notice that she loves to sit with her feet up.  On the counter, on her toys, on her stroller, on the steps... anywhere.  She likes to prop up and get comfortable.  

Sweet Audrey Peanut, we love you!  We're so thankful that you've come into our lives.  You keep me humble, little one.  And you keep us smiling.  Your precious smile and bright eyes light up a room. You're a gift, for sure.

Here are a few more shots of her and her fun smiles:

And let's not forget about her birthday celebrations: